Posted on 09/20/2005 7:21:41 PM PDT by KevinDavis
My favorite economics professor tells a story about a group of college students that share a refrigerator. The refrigerator often runs out of food because the students are more interested in eating the food than stocking it. The dishes in the sink tend to pile up. These are classic cases of overconsumption and underinvestment when there are not exclusive property rights, a problem economists call the “Tragedy of the Commons”.
(Excerpt) Read more at thespacereview.com ...
Just adds to further proof that, as famed scientist L. Costello once affirmed, "the loaf of bread is related to the airplane."
Economists are so abstruse. So, is FEMA like the college refridgerator where the food is "shared" and then quickly vanishes among loud growls from stoned people with munchies, or is New Orleans like the sink where dishes just pile up? Or is New Orleans like the dishes in the sink where the water just piles up? So confusing...
New Orleans is like taking a pee in the sink,
and not bothering to take the dishes out.
Let the good times squish.
Now that I understand.
My refrigerator is always a tragedy.
Now there is a normal group to sample.
My wife and two children act the same way when it comes to the refrigerator.
Normal behavior.
Honest.
LVM
Who says? If someone gets to the moon and squats on a plot, develops it, and fights for it, who on earth can say otherwise? Given the cost to orbit, if someone gets a patch of the moon, is the UN going to say, "Gee, you got there before we we're ready. You'll just have to give it up." They might say it, but how will they enforce it? (Answer: not at all.)
The treaty is all well and good, but none of the signatories are/were residents of the moon. What if a duly elected government on Luna says BS? And we'll fight you for it?
Of course, Heinlein had the story 40+ years ago.
the big problem with space exploration isn't the lack of property rights but the lack of profitability. When we find something to make money off planet, then the industry will build itself.
They both have an abundance of green cheese?
Just happened to be re-reading "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" right now.
bump
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